Should I replace my floor?

[amitchell]

Hello everyone! We have finally started renovating our 1972 Overlander. It's our first Airstream, and our first renovation, so we are digging into these forums and learning as much as we can. We are planning on a pretty serious interior renovation, but before we get started, we want to make sure that any necessary floor repairs are made.

I have gutted the interior, and have removed all of the carpeting. The sub-flooring in 75% of the trailer appears to be in great shape. However, there is some serious staining around the perimeter in the front. There is also some rotten wood in a few places that crumbles upon contact.

My question is this: From the pictures I have provided, can you tell if I need to replace the entire plywood sheets in the front, or can I patch those rotten areas? I guess that I am trying to avoid removing the interior skins. Might be easier, just to replace the entire plywood sheets, but I'm just curious what everyone thinks.

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

Allen Mitchell

[AlbertF]

Given that you've gone to the trouble of removing everything, and that the floor is an integral component of the structure, you don't want to take any shortcuts at this point.

However, the Airstream service manual describes the process for splicing in sections of floor, and if you can do this in a way that effectively gives you a new floor, you might consider it.

[purman]

If its not bad I would splice it in.. Thats what I'm doing here... I will show pics tomorrow of the inserted piece... The left side is solid and I don't want to mess with the plumbing...

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f44/...dor-44644.html

if you can put your finger through it replace it, but if the middle is fine I would just cut out the bad stuff..... If it is just and 1/8 or so of rot on the top you can use some kind of filler....

Or you can just go for it if you have the time.

Mine lasted 40 years and is mostly in good shape, I'm figuring I'm not gonna own this AS for 40 more years.... And I'm treating all the ply wood so it won't rot anymore...

[94Tri]

I believe I would consider splicing in only where needed. I recently helped my brother in law (63silver) do some splicing in his 63 Ambassador, and the floor turned out really solid.

[amitchell]

Thank you all very much for your replies.

AlbertF, I totally agree... we don't want to take any shortcuts at this point... but I wouldn't mind taking the fastest route!

Purman and 94Tri, I would love to see photos of the splices. Thanks so much!

Best regards
Allen

[Uberphotos]

I agree with what everyone else...splice it. I had a floor (it looked similar to yours) that I had to replace sections in which I just spliced it and it was very solid.

[purman]

I should have them up this afternoon... I have to cut and treat the patch this morning.

[tphan]

If you want to splice in pieces of subfloor around the perimeter (which is what I did in the front of my coach too) you still have to take off the interior skins in that area to be able to access the bolts/screws that go through the whole sandwich of C-channel, subfloor, and (often) outriggers. This also allows you to install new bolts once the spliced sections of sub-floor are installed. I would not attempt to splice in perimeter sections of sub-floor without doing this! Best of luck- tim

[amitchell]

Everyone, thanks so much for the feedback. It sounds like the general consensus is the patch/splice route.

Tim/tphan ... thanks for your note about removing the interior skins. Makes total sense.

Is it possible to access and replace those elevator/carriage bolts without removing the belly pan?

Thanks again!
Allen

[bullydogsmom]

Allen,

After you cut out the bad section of floor you can access the floor stringer and the nut on the bottom of the bolt. Although ours were so rusted my husband had to cut them off with a sawsall. Also be prepared when you cut the first section of floor out, you might find that the mice have made a mess with the insulation. Ours was so bad we ended up dropping the belly pan just to clean out ALL the mouse houses!



Annette

[amitchell]

Thank you Annette, I'm realling looking forward to digging into the mouse houses. I'm starting to have second thoughts about this whole rotten floor thing. I think that I am going to put the carpet back down and pretend that I never saw it.

-Allen

[bullydogsmom]

But Allen, If you don't cut the floor or drop the belly pan you'll never know how many little critter houses you are sleeping with. Maybe sometimes ignorance is bliss! This is what we would have been sleeping with. And this was just the front of the trailer.
Annette

[amitchell]

Whoa! Thanks for the picture, Annette.

I'll bet you saw an increase in your gas mileage when you got rid of all of that extra mouse-house weight!

[purman]

Originally Posted by amitchell

Thank you all very much for your replies.

AlbertF, I totally agree... we don't want to take any shortcuts at this point... but I wouldn't mind taking the fastest route!

Purman and 94Tri, I would love to see photos of the splices. Thanks so much!

Best regards
Allen

Got the splice in you can see the finished job here

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f44/...tml#post608164

[amitchell]

Jason, thanks so much for the photo! That is a great help. Did you have to take the belly pan down, or were you able to do everything from above?

Sounds like you are in the middle of a marathon restoration project! Best of luck, and have a great time in the Tetons!

Cheers
Allen

[purman]

Nope didn't take the belly pan off on this one... was lucky.... But when I dig into the kitchen floor we shall see.........

[Over59]

How much time and money are you going to put into this? Give it very serious consideration. Does it smell like a trailer? What kind of use will it get. Do you have help? All of these are things to consider. I'll tell you that people on the forum often take short cuts and encourage others to do the same. I guess it helps them sleep at night.

How's the frame under those soft spots? Does it need repair? I found frame rust through under sections of floor that were only a littel discolored.

If you are only going locally or setting up as a seasonal the floor is not a big deal. Some have used Deep Penitrating Epoxy for soft spots.

Depending on where your trailer lived you need to use some care in dealing with the belly pan or other areas with rodent feces. Some bad stuff out there.

Taking off the bottom interior isn't a big deal if you had the equipment to put it back. The real challenge is replacing the very edge that doesn't hold fasteners anymore, even when it looks fine.

If you patch it use the marine method and epoxy.


Good Luck

[amitchell]

Over59,
Thanks for the reply. All good questions, and all are definitely worth consideration. Thank you.

I'm not in a huge rush to finish, and I certainly don't mind taking her out as an "aluminum tent" during her makeover. We really want to do it right the first time.

I plan on doing a bit of frame inspection once we get the bad floor panels out. Fingers are crossed.

Thanks much
Allen